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ADDRESS 

AT THE CELEBRATION OF 

THE TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIFTH 

ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING 

OF CAMBRIDGE 

Sanders Theatre, Dec. 21, 1905 

BY 

HERBERT PARKER 



[Reprinted from Proceedings of The Cambridge 
Historical Society, I] 



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ADDRESS OF HERBERT PARKER 

Mr. Chairman, President Eliot, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
Gratefully I appreciate your courtesy that gives me oppor- 
tunity to share with you in this dignified, inspiring, and instructive 
occasion. Years past I came to Cambridge to seek the truth, and 
all that I have discovered had its source here. I come again to- 
night to discover that the truth again confronts me here, not in 
the over-courteous, gracious words of your dignified presiding offi- 
cer, but through the frank speech of the analyst and anno ta tor of 
our time, the newspaper writer. You may think I am unduly 



2S THE CAMBSTPGE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY [D^c. 

elaisd. my frieads, because myw. for tlie first time, I rise to the 
Olymmiaji iuei^iits of liiis pJIatf orm, to \diiei. heretofore I had onlj 
g- . ' i ejB. But I speak to yoo. in ehastened spirit 

yfjL Prea-'deni. thoiagh jou be the pipesiding oifficor of a histoiic-al 
SDcietj, ihiOias:h I graisfnUj apprecaate jo^ax kijidlT words, take 
Isssoa froiM the seem eajwioc of this neiirspaper "writer aad be 
severe anud aoonaie in yo<iir speech raiher th:\n enthusiastic in 
TDioix hiDspnaliiT, which is part of tout kinidly nataxe. 

Thi- . " " ' ~5papeT. in one of the jotiinals the other 

daj. I - _ — a friend has sent me tie ardele, for 

there are alirajs fniprmi> who send ooe this kind of eommnniea- 
tioE- Ver" " 'rx has siid timt ~ " 're had no ocea- 

s»3im. to g: . _:_ . _i ^-i Dwn borders fee __._ _i eloqtience, of 

leamim^. and. of disiiiactiom. : I "wiH read the "words of the article : 
*" - '" "-lais not been oblig^ to go abroad for eloquent 

ai— - ; _ speakpTs. the only exception beng the attorney 

gePieraL'" And so. haTing read yon the obserrations of my friends 
the 2" "'-' niia.lTSwTS-, I THio^wr proceed to Terify the exception of which this 
arciicJe s^'^ ' ~ ~ tice. 

I have _ - ^ai to-day froam a remote eoaniry town west of 
yoRn, boct myz wiMDily dissociated from, this City of Cambridge and 
its ear - :_ '^ . ---- :" _ __ " "r to me, ]VIr. Presi- 

demr, "_ . _ _ :\ ^ - . _ -pite of all the then 

aiLcaietioDs and npi^rftiTig associations that obcained here in Cam- 
t: -re were ~ - -2. wh.o, 1- _ -'leir dwelL- 

ii-^ ^ - ^ the _ i_. ^_: - _. : -^ijrd to i_: _i__:ws of tie 
Siaskia. wad m 163^, Seaigeamt Phillips, here in the even then 
e_ - Heg^ and speaking of what is now my own 

1: -- -- '_ -^.:£r, and of "die particnlariy beatctifnl fertile 

vaJIeys of tie then Peimacixtk Biver, sakL evai to Cambridge men, 
tL^- ": try was - a place desirable as anv in the land-"' 

A_- . _^._.^;,_-"~ ■■ '■ There has been a na«ore or less coos^aiiit 

eTOTii'gT^3aon frtMaa '. _ _ _"^ to Lancaster. 

We. in mm, pil ^-TTwa as yoiOT Chainaaan has claimed in regard to 
B'—' — _ - - — , - C^ity of Ca.mhdzz-' '■ — : "' t ' jf oar 
t , _ ^ a Ist naioire oi - - - - - n and 

reffiectaoni. — I ask yoio. to pardon my boasiiELg of my own ecaai- 
"'-~:--^' ' astfnlEess with regard to one's own loved hairilaf- 



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30 THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY [Dec. 

because not having read, your invitation properly, I had come be- 
lieving that this was the 275th anniversary of the historical society 
of Cambridge. But when I looked about me I could not have 
beheved this was so, for I observed no evidence of such antiquity 
before me, nor can I believe, as I am told, that your society is in 
its infancy unless I beheve that here, as it well may be, the classic 
myth is realized, and, like Minerva, you have attained full maturity 
at your birth. 

But here is no occasion, with your Chairman, to regret that this 
organization has not been of longer corporate existence, for I speak 
the truth to you when I say that Cambridge, of all communities 
within this broad land of ours, has least needed a formal organiza- 
tion like this ; for true it is that every son and daughter of Massa- 
chusetts, every son and daughter of this great nation of ours, who 
knows and reveres the history of New England and of Cambridge, 
has been himself and herself a self-constituted member of the Cam- 
bridge Historical Society, preserving its traditions, holding the 
ideals of the fathers before us, keeping in their own hearts and in 
their own memories all that any historical society can treasure and 
record. 

And yet, it is well that this organization has been founded. It 
is well for you, it is well for this great Commonwealth ; for the 
historical societies are, in a way, like the Vestal Virgins, who keep 
constantly alight upon the altars of our history and of our patriot- 
ism the spirit through which the nation must live. Guardians 
of this sacred inheritance are the members of this society ; noble 
charge committed to them, and committed to safe and trustworthy 
hands ! 

We are wont to hear our friends from greater industrial com- 
munities than this boast that the real activities of the nation are 
those that they foster and which they advance ; that the great path- 
ways of commercialism have passed us by and gone elsewhere. And 
it may be true, in a measure. They say we are a provincial people, 
and so we are, and I, for one, am proud of it ; for our provincialism 
consists chiefly in the belief that the inheritance that we have is as 
noble as that of any man or woman of any time. And though it be 
said that we are not to-day advancing in the very forefront of the 
most eager material or industrial activities of this fervent time in 
which we Hve, it is certain that the torch of faith and learning that 



1005.] REMARKS OF THE CHAIRMAN 31 

lighted the dawn of our national life still blazes here, lighting new 
hopes and aspirations everywhere between the borders of the great 
oceans that define our shores. The lires we guard were enkindled 

on the altar of the fathers in this New England of ours, we are 

its custodians to-day. To these sanctuaries return the sons and 
daughters and the remote descendants of Pilgrim and Puritan, 
to hght again the torch of memory and of hope at this celestial 
fire. We of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, standing on, pre- 
serving, and holding the very soil upon which Pilgrim and Puritan 
landed, the very seed-ground of the genius and hope of our nation, 
have a sacred trust committed to us ; and it is well that reahzing 
this, learned, patriotic men of your town, and women as well, have 
joined in this association to keep ever alive that which is the best 
and highest inspiration of a people, — the recollection of the glory, 
the courage, the faith, the hope, and the patriotism of their own 
fathers, founders of the State and of the Republic. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 

au'ees'sse 7 4 



